the city desperately needs volunteers and needed runners like i had been in new york city even more. sawyer's 90 lifesaving acts of courage had taken place onboard a burning steam boat of which twain had a particular horror, the kind of dread that wakens a journalist at night and set him shake anything includes of cigar -- shaking in clouds of cigar smoke. for that reason he listened attentively, sweat rolling down his brow to sawyer's story of fire and explosion onboard the steam boat independence. in which hundreds died from hideous scalds. the steamer, launch inside new york city on christmas day 1850, did not reach san francisco for the first time until september 17th, 1851. blasting her whistle, laying a wide trail of foam and thrashing her bad les with -- paddles with abandon, the independence glided toward long wharf, an edges tension between holdson's peer and quaint street wharf. the cloud of white steam hanging above her was normal. in such noncondensing engines as her, the exhaust steam escapes into the air like a virginia city hot spring. so i'm going to leave out the shi